Heel-pad.



H. M. EATON.

HEEL PAD.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.22. 1914.

1,164,1 77. Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

earner enrich.

Specification of Letters Patent. ygmm c, Egg, 141., 1915 aii ucauonslecDecember 22,. 1914; Serial. in. trans.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, HORACE. M; EATON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hudson, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have'invented a new and useful Improvement in Heel-Pads,of

which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to heel pads. In the manufacture of shoesit is customaryto attach the heels to the shoes by a plurality of nailswhich are driven through the insole and clenched upon the face of thatportion of the insole, known as the heel. seat, which directly supportsthe heel of the foot. The early shoe manufacturers covered the heel seatwith a pad made from a superior grade of thick stock with the intentionof providing the wearer of the shoewith some measure of protection fromthe bunchy' condition produced in the heel seat by the heel nails.Experience soon demonstrated to these manufacturers that, owing torthedeteriorating action of sweat or moisture upon the available adhesiveemployed to secure these pads to the heel seats, the pads becameloosened on the heel seats and bunched in a wrinkled condition under theheels of the wearers resulting in so much discomfort as to cause thewearers to pull the pads out: of the shoes and throw them away. As thispractice destroyed the beneficial use of the heel pads the shoemanufacturers, in order to cheapen the cost of production, aban donedthe practice of employing a high grade quality heel pad and substitutedtherefor a thin piece ofupper stock. or a cheap grade of felt the solefunction of which was to enable the manufacturers to mask the m1-sightly heel seat which was found to be a desirable thing to do from aselling point of view. As is Well known these thin cheap heel padszifi'ord small protection to theheel of the foot from theuncomfortable-condition produced by the heel nails in. the heel seats.Moreover these heel. pads are easily penetrated by the moisture ofthefoot which causes the heel nails to rust which action in turn corrodesthe leather around the nails thus freeing the clenched ends of the nailsand permitting their points to protrudethrough the heel pad. andpenetrate the heel of the foot causing excessive wearon. the stockings:and great discomfort to the wearer of the: shoe. These conditions: areparticu.-- larly liable to occur when the wearerof the shoe becomesexasperated and. pulls the heel pads from the shoes which has becomealmost a universal practice even after only a few days wear Manyattempts have been made to devise practical methods of nailing heelswiththe object in view of obviating" the presence of nails in the heelseats. These methods have usually been founded either upon the splitting of the heel of-the insole and the; use of a'metallic plateinthesplit for the purpose of clenching the heel nails: in the lower:portion of the insole, or upon the attachmeutof a metallic plate to thebottom of the; insole so that the heel nails would be clenched in theoutsole. These methods, some of which.

required special last construction, have proved to be so expensive as tomaterially increase the cost of. manufacture and for,

that reason have never been adoptedv for commercialuse.

The object of the invention is to produce a heel pad which will affordample protection to the: heel of: the foot and which will fluence ofheat into a viscous surface for attaching the pad to theheel seat andprotecting the nails and heel seat from rust and corrosion. Heretoforeit has-been the practice to attach heel pads to heel seats by means ofpasteapplied by a brush in the hands of a 7 cheap operative. This methodof attaching heel seats is'not only uneconomical in the ex penditure oflabor and material but often causes soiling of the linings which toclean involves an expensive operation. As a contrast to this crudemethod the heel pad of the present invention. may be placed in itsproper position in the heel seat while the adhesive coating thereon iscold and then be pressed upon by a hot plate the combination of heat andpressureacting to melt the adhesive and amalgamate the heel pad with theheel seat.v As the. adhesive is waterproof and permits. the nails: toembed themselves therein, all danger of moisture penetrating the pad andcausing the nails to rust and the leather of the heel seat to corrode isavoided.

A further feature of the invention contemplates providing the adhesivewith a sheeting to protect the adhesive while being handled or shipped.

The various features of the present invention will be best understoodfrom an inspection of the accompanying drawing illustrating thepreferred form of the invention, in which, Y

Figure 1 is a bottom plan of the heelpad, and Fig. 2 is a reversedelevation looking at the breast end of the heel pad.

In the illustrated embodiment of the in vention the heel pad comprises aportion'of felt 1 shaped to cover the heel seat of a shoe and having athickness sufficient to prevent the presence of the heel nails beingfelt by the wearer of the shoe. This body portion of felt is providedupon oneface with anonviscous waterproof adhesive coating 2 which isunaffected by the moisture or heat of the foot and normally non-adhesiveunder ordinary conditions of temperature but which is capable of beingconverted into a viscous surface by heat.

In order to protect the cold adhesive from contact with foreignsubstances and prema ture heating the adhesive 2 is covered with a papersheet 3 which is readily removed prior to the attachment of the pad tothe heel seat.

To attach the heel pad to the heel seat the paper backing 3 is removedand the heel pad inserted'into the shoe with the cold adhesive engagingthe heel seat. A hot plate is then firmly pressed against the uncoatedface of the heel pad); The heatconverts the adhesive coating into, aviscous surface and the pressure amalgamates the sticky heel pad with.the heel seat; and embeds 'the nails in the waterproof adhesive thuseffectively preventing the moisture of the foot from rusting the nailsandcorroding the leather of the heel seat. 1

What is claimed as new, is

1. A heel pad comprismg a body portion having one face coated with anon-viscous,

waterproof adhesive unafiected by the moisture or heat of the foot andnormally nonadhesive under ordinary conditions of temperature butcapable of. being converted under the influence of heat into a viscoussurface for attaching the pad to the heel seat and protecting the nailsand heel seat from rust and corrosion, substantially as described.

2. As an article of manufacture, a piece. of felt provided upon one facewith a waterproof adhesive coating nor mally non-adhesive under ordinaryconditions of temperature but capable of being,converted underthefinfluence of heat into a viscous surface for attaching the pad tothe heel seat and protecting the nails and heel seat from rust andcorrosion, and coveredfwith a protective sheeting separable therefrom,substantially as described.

